Encourage water conservation and reuse

The Town of New Castle’s favor­able geo­graph­ic loca­tion with­in the Hud­son Riv­er Val­ley makes it rich with water. How­ev­er, it is still impor­tant that the Town and its res­i­dents use water resources intel­li­gent­ly. Pro­ject­ed impacts of cli­mate change in New York State include an increase in fre­quen­cy of short-term droughts ​“with weeks of dry con­di­tions punc­tu­at­ed by rains too intense for parched soils to absorb.” Water con­ser­va­tion mea­sures such as adjust­ing the tim­ing of out­door sprin­kler sys­tems or instal­la­tion of low-flow show­er heads can help to con­serve water in dry sum­mer months, or when a ​“short-term drought” lasts longer than expect­ed. To encour­age water con­ser­va­tion, a Town-wide water con­ser­va­tion and reuse pro­gram should be estab­lished, and Town oper­a­tions should be exam­ined to assess where water can be reused. The Town should encour­age xeriscap­ing (land­scap­ing that requires lit­tle to no irri­ga­tion) and alter­na­tive gray­wa­ter and rain­wa­ter use/​reuse through research and education.